Pleated drapery



Dc. 30, 1952 o. .1. HANDLEY PLEATED DRAPERY Filed May 7, 1951 PatentedDec. 30, 1952 PLEATED DRAPERY Daniel J. Handley, Mattoon, Ill.Application May'7, 1951, Serial No. 224,875

4 Claims.

This invention relates to pleated drapery, and more particularly, tomeans particularly for home use in making and hanging pleated drapery.

Briefly, the invention features the use of a pleat-forming strip ofstiff material provided with transverse pleat-forming creases.Longitudinally spaced sections of the pleat-forming strip are defined bypairs of apertures, the two apertures of each section being located increases separated from one another by a plurality of non-aperturedcreases. The strip of pleat-formin material is stitched flat to a drapeadjacent its upper edge. As such, the drape may be readily cleaned andpressed as a flat sheet. The drapery is pleated and hung by foldingtogether in accordion fashion the longitudinally spaced pre-creasedsections of the stiffened edge of the drape and inserting spaced prongson a drapery hook of this invention through each pair of apertures.

The two apertures in the pleat-forming sections of the strip areuniformly spaced apart, and the pairs of apertures are uniformly spacedfrom one another. Therefore, the apertures act as guides for forming asymmetrical pleating arrangement when the drapery is hung. The draperyhook of this invention comprises a hook-forming member having anelongate shank with a loop at one end. A pair of spaced prongs extendfrom the shank of the hook-forming member generally parallel therewithfor insertion through a pair of the aforementioned apertures, after thepre-creased section of the drapery therebetween has been folded. Theseprongs extend between the drapery fabric and the pleat-forming strip soas to be hidden from view. Additionally, the hook is provided withpleat-retaining pins directed inwardly between folds of the drapery. Onesuch hook is employed for each pleated section of the drape. Otherfeatures will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the elements and combinations ofelements, features of construction, and arrangements of parts which willbe exemplified in the structures hereinafter described, and the scope ofwhich will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawing, in which one of various possible embodimentof the invention is illustrated,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a'partially-unrolled roll of thepleat-forming strip of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a rear view of a portion of finished drapery showing thepleat-forming strip secured thereto;

Fig- 7 "is a vertical section taken on line 1-4 of Fig. 5.

Similar reference characters indicate COIlG-a sponding parts throughoutthe several views of the drawing.

Referring to Fig. 1 0f the drawing, there is shown at I a pleating striof relatively stiff but foldable fabric material such as buckram. Thestrip "is provided with longitudinally uniformly spaced groups orsections S of transverse pleat.- forming creases 3, there being an oddnumber of creases for each pre-creased section of the strip, and thesections being of uniform width. The outermost creases 3a of eachsection have apertures 5 therein adjacent one longitudinal margin 1 ofthe strip. The other margin of the strip is designated 9. .The stripnormally is flat, but is adapted to be folded on the crease lines toprovide uniformly placed accordion-pleated sections as shown at the leftin Fig. 1. It is contemplated that'the pleat-forming strip be sold as anarticle of manufacture, preferably in a roll (Fig. 1) from whichsuitable lengths may be out.

In making a drape of this invention, a length of the pleat-forming stripI is pulled from the roll, out off and secured to the rear of .drape' llAs shown in Figs.

adjacent its upper edge l3. 2 and 3, the strip is positioned to extendadjacent the upper edge I3 of the drape with its margin 9 spaced fromedge I3. The marginal portion l5 of the drape which lies outward of themargin 9 of the strip is folded over upon the strip, and the stri isstitched to the drape by a line of stitching 1 1 along the folded-overpart l5 and by a line of stitching l9 adjacent the margin 1 of the stripoutward of apertures 5, i. e., between the apertures and margin 1.

It will be noted that the drape is substantially flat when in thecondition shown in Figs. 2 and 3 so that it can be readily cleaned andpressed.

The pleats themselves are not formed until the drape is ready forhanging.

Referring to Fig. 4, there is shown a drapery hook 2| of this invention.The hook comprises a hook-forming member having a loop 23 at one end ofan elongate shank 25. Attached to the other end of the shank is aU-shaped member of stiff wire providing spaced elongate prongs 21extending generally parallel to the hook shank 25 and in slightlydivergent relation to one another. Also, a relatively smaller U -shapedmember forming pins or extensions 29 is aflixed to the end of the shank.The three separate pieces of wire forming the hook member, the prongsand the pins are secured together as by welding or solder. As shown, thepins 29 project generally transversely with respect to the prongs 2'! ina direction opposite from that of the loop 23.

In applying the drapery hook to the drape, the

sections S of the pleat-forming strip l between the pairs of aperturesare gathered together or pleated to form pleats which stand out from thefront of the drape, the two apertures of each section being broughttogether at. the rear of the drape. The two elongate prongs 21' of ahook are then inserted through the two apertures 5; of; a. pleatedsection S between the pleat-forming strip l and the fabric H in agenerally upwardly direction. on opposite. sides of the outermost folds3| (Fig. 5). As such, these prongs tend to maintain the pleated sectionfolded, a slight spreading apart at the upper portion thereof beingpermitted by the divergent nature of the prongs 21. The pins 29 arefitted immediately inside of the two outermost pleats 3| to secure theinner folds 3-3 in closely assembled relation. Therefore, the pins 29function as pleat-retaining and spacing members for the lower portion ofthe pleated section.

It will be understood the pre-creased pleatforming strip readilyfacilitates the formation of even uniform pleats. The uniform spacing ofeach. pair of apertures insures a uniform size of pleated section, andthe uniform spacing between pairs of apertures insures uniform. spacingof the pleated sections of the drape. Moreover, the drapery hook soconstructed as to give supportto and generally hold the, shape of apleated section of the drape. A hook, of course, would be applied toeach pleated. section of the drape and the hooks are hooked over a rodto han the drape.

To. summarize, the drape of this invention is readily made, it isreadily cleaned and pressed, and; 4 neat symmetrical pleated-sectionsare readily formed and maintained.

Reference is here made to my copending improvement application SerialNo. 252,923, filed October 24, 1951, for Drapery Hook.

In View of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of theinvention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.

As many changes could be made in the above constructions withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention, it is intended that allmatter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanyingdrawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a. limitingsense.

I claim:

1 A pleat-forming drapery hook comprising a hook-forming member havingan elongate shank and a loop at one end of the shank adapted forcooperation with a drapery hanging rod, a pair of spaced elongate prongsextending from the other end of the shank in generally parallel spacedrelation with one another and with the shank, pleat-retaining extensionsprojecting in spaced relation generally transverse to the shank and in adirection opposite that of the loop, said pleat-retaining extensionsbeing spaced less than the spacing between the prongs, whereby saidextensions may be inserted transversely to a pleated section of draperyto retain several of its intermediate pleated portions in foldedpositions, and whereby said prongs may be inserted into andsubstantially parallel to lateral pleated portions to hold the. latteragainst the. outsides of said extensions and against said intermediatepleated portions.

2. As an article of manufacture a pleating strip adapted for attachmentto a drapery and the like, comprising a strip of relatively stiffpleatforming material adapted to have one edge fastened. near a marginof the drapery and the other edge spaced from said margin, saidpleatforming, material having spaced groups of transverse pleat-formingcreases extending across the strip, spaced groups. of said,pleat-forming creases lying between uniformly spaced, pairs. ofvapertures adapted for receivingprongs. of hooks, said apertures beinglocated on the outermost. creases of a group and adjacent the edge of.the strip which is spaced from. the margin of the drapery when attachedthereto.

3. An article of manufacture made. according to claim 2, wherein the.creasesbetween those. on which the apertures are located arenon-apertured;

4. A pleated construction comprising. a drape, a pleat-formingstrip ofrelatively stiff material. stitched to the drapeonly along both edges ofthe strip, one of which edges. is adjacent the margin of the drape andthe other spaced therefrom, said strip having uniformly spacedpro-creased pleatfroming sections and pairs of uniformly spacedapertures located on the outermost creases andadjacent the edge of thestrip. which is. spaced from the margin of the drape, the resultingstiffened margin of the drape beingv folded along said pleat-formingcreases to bring. toward one another the apertures of each pleat-formingsection, and a. drapery hook. having spaced elongate prongsinsertablethrough the two apertures and between the pleat-forming stripand the drape, said hookincluding projections extending transversely tosaid prongs but more closely spaced than said prongs, said projectionholding intermediate portions of the pleated section between saidprongs, said prongs in the apertures holding end portions of the pleatedsection against said projections and said intermediate portionsv of thepleatedsection.

DANIEL J. HANDLEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 834,188 'Carr Oct. 23, 1906.2,012,734 Steiner Aug. 27, 1935 2,124,650 Chessler July 26, 19382,183,188 French Dec. 12, 1939 2,422,963 Hess June 24, 1947 2,527,360Hess Oct. 24, 1950 2,552,922 Andreou May 15, 1951

